1. Field of the Invention
This present invention relates to a mobile terminal that minimizes current consumption by a GPS engine upon use of position information, and a GPS engine control method thereof.
2. Background of the Invention
Mobile terminals (or electronic devices) can perform various functions, for example, data and voice communication, capturing images or video, storing voice, reproducing music files via a speaker system, displaying images or video and the like. Some of mobile terminals may include an additional function of playing games, and other mobile terminals may be implemented as multimedia players. In addition, mobile terminals can receive broadcast or multicast signals allowing the user to view video or television programs.
With release of smart phones with a large screen, mobile terminals have recently been developed as various entertainment equipment beyond a simple call function. In addition, the time spent using the mobile terminals has increased. As one example, the mobile terminal provides a position-related function. The position-related function may be useful for controlling execution of the aforementioned functions (e.g., a camera function or a display function) and operations of various types of applications as well as a function of notifying a current position (location) to a user (location search function or a location alarm function).
For example, the mobile terminal can measure the user's position information so as to provide a navigation function, or other functions such as augmented reality, route search (e.g., restaurant search), map search and the like. To provide the position-related function, a position is measured using a GPS engine. In particular, the GPS engine is turned on in response to a request for a position measurement and turned off in response to completion of the position measurement. The GPS engine is turned on/off depending on user' one-time request for position information. That is, when position information has to be continuously provided for a preset time, for example, in a navigation system, the GPS engine has to remain in the On state for the preset time.
However, the mobile terminal continuously provides the position information, even when a user is pausing for a preset time during movement or moving perpendicularly (for example, going up in an elevator). That is, the GPS engine measures the position information while being kept turned on. This causes unnecessary power consumption (or current consumption).
Accordingly, the current consumption has become a great issue from the perspective of a device manufacturer or the user. To solve the problem, a battery capacity is also increasing. However, the increase in the battery capacity has a limit in terms of a size of a mobile terminal or a fabricating cost. Therefore, various methods are required to reduce current consumption while executing a function of providing position information.